Gardening is one of the more pleasurable activities of all age groups in the United States as well as the rest of the world. It has long been recognized that weeding those gardens can be one of the least pleasurable aspects of this hobby. Frustrations abound in the endeavor to remove weeds from the soil around the more desirable plants. Pulling weeds is difficult and strenuous and often not effective as either the tops pull off and the remaining roots regenerate the weed in a short time (dandelions, wild radish) or it is virtually impossible to extract the many diffuse roots of grasses effectively and then the remaining roots once again re-grow. Most implements for weed control are cutting tools (e.g. hoes, mowers, weed whippers, cultivators etc.) that again scrape or cut away the top of the weed only to leave the roots to re-grow. It is well known that if ‘You don't get the root—you don't get the weed’. Various cultivators uproot the weeds, but unless the weeds are removed, they also re-root and regenerate and a lot of the soil is disturbed in the process. Many of these implements are larger and heavy, require substantial force to manipulate and are difficult to maneuver around smaller confined beds of plants without damage to “non weeds”. The need to manually remove up-rooted weeds requires further bending and stooping repetition.
A second problem concerns the physical agility of the person doing the weeding. As we avid gardeners get older the constant up and down movement as you move from patch to patch is tiring and painful if your back (like mine) tends to get strained. Implements that up-root the weeds but do not provide a means to ‘grab’ or impale them necessitate even more bending and stooping to pick up and dispose of the weeds.
What is needed is a lightweight implement that can be used in either standing or kneeling or sitting position. It should be small, effective and precise in removing weeds with minimal effort. It should be effective in extracting either taproot or fibrous root type weeds with minimum disturbance of the surrounding plantings. It should be sharpened to be capable of impaling the up-rooted weed for disposal to minimize repeated bending over to pick up the debris.
This invention satisfies these needs.